Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Castor (Barlow)

SOURCE: You can find Francis Barlow's illustrated edition of Aesop's fables (1687 edition) available online at Michigan State University. I've also transcribed the fables at the Aesopus wiki, with page images at Aesopica.net. This is fable 19 in Barlow. For parallel versions, see Perry 118.

READ OUT LOUD. Choose which marked text you prefer to practice with - macrons or accent marks - and read the text out loud until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, try reading the unmarked text at the bottom. It should be easy for you after practicing with the marked texts. :-)


MACRONS. Here is the text with macrons:

Castor est animal, in palūdibus sēsē nūtriēns, cuius testiculī variīs medēlīs ūtilēs esse dīcuntur. Itaque cum quispiam eum sequitur, vēnātiōnis causam nōn ignōrāns, fugit ad spēluncam ubī ab hominum cōnspectū, canumque odōrātū sēcūrus testēs dentibus exscindit et vēnātōribus appropinquantibus relinquit, et hōc pactō sē sēcūrum praestat.


ACCENT MARKS. Here is the text with ecclesiastical accents, plus some color-coding for the words of three or more syllables (blue: penultimate stress; red: antepenultimate stress):

Castor est ánimal, in palúdibus sese nútriens, cuius testículi váriis medélis útiles esse dicúntur. Ítaque cum quíspiam eum séquitur, venatiónis causam non ignórans, fugit ad spelúncam ubi ab hóminum conspéctu, canúmque odorátu secúrus testes déntibus exscíndit et venatóribus appropinquántibus relínquit, et hoc pacto se secúrum praestat.


UNMARKED TEXT. Here is the unmarked text - after practicing with the marked text that you prefer, you should not have any trouble with the unmarked text:

Castor est animal, in paludibus sese nutriens, cuius testiculi variis medelis utiles esse dicuntur. Itaque cum quispiam eum sequitur, venationis causam non ignorans, fugit ad speluncam ubi ab hominum conspectu, canumque odoratu securus testes dentibus exscindit et venatoribus appropinquantibus relinquit, et hoc pacto se securum praestat.


IMAGE. Here is Francis Barlow's illustration for the story: